Cyber war on business tackled

A review of Australia’s intelligence agencies ordered by Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
is expected to examine whether a dedicated cyber security centre should be established to focus on the threat to business systems.

She announced the probe, to be headed by a former secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Cornall, and a management consultant and Melbourne University associate professor, Rufus Black, on December 23.

Ms Gillard has told the review to examine the structure and resourcing of Australia’s intelligence agencies, which have undergone unprecedented expansion since the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

Spending on some agencies has grown tenfold since then, amounting to $1.7 billion across the six agencies.

Intelligence sources have warned that the threat from cyber attacks on government and private sector systems is now growing so rapidly that the frontline cyber defence agency, the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), might need to be expanded or a separate centre set up to deal with attacks on the private sector.

The threat is emanating from countries such as China and Russia, terrorist groups, organised crime and computer hackers. At present the response to business cyber attacks is spread across a number of agencies.

DSD’s primary role is to gather intelligence on foreign governments and to protect Australian defence and federal and state government secrets as well as provide some assistance to business.

The Attorney-General’s Department also plays a lead role through its national computer emergency team, (CERT) while the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has a specialist unit dealing with business.

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“It is a struggle just to protect government systems,’’ one intelligence source told The Australian Financial Review.

“The private sector is lagging behind and in danger of falling ­further behind,’’ the source added.

ASIO’s director-general,
David Irvine
, warned last year that the threat to business networks was at least as serious as the threat to government ones.

This included attempts to steal financial information and intellectual property as well as hit telecommunications, transport and infrastructure networks.

It’s understood Chinese hackers have targeted iron ore miners BHP- Billiton and Rio Tinto, and attacks have also been reported in the finance sector.

A former head of strategic analysis at the Office of National Assessments, Ross Babbage, said another issue for the review team would be examining whether legislative change was needed to improve the ability of the various agencies to share inform­ation.

“Whether it’s the cyber threat or the threat of home-grown terrorism . . . you need to bring the full suite of processes to bear to be successful,’’ Professor Babbage said.

A classified report is due to be handed to the government by the ­middle of this year.